The End of the Future
by Gallifrey the Scribe
Summary: A novelised chronicle of everything that occurs within Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2. This however is following the usual "Rule of Corruption" that is present within all of my fanfiction. May contain scenes that are generally disturbing as well as violence.
1. Prologue: Storm of Changes

Prologue:

The Storm of Changes

"Juno. It's finally time to go. Are you ready?"

In the darkness two figures could be seen standing outside of a constantly shifting blue light.

"Yes. As ready as I'll ever be." Remarked the Second of the two figures.

With that both of them grabbed each others hand and rushed through the blue light.

Passing through it everything went dark and the two quickly began to be thrown about like ragdolls, as if a great storm was raging within the darkness. Struggling to keep close to each other, they called out through the Darkness.

"Are… Are you okay?!" Juno shouted to his partner, "No! Don't let go! Kouhei!"

"My hand is slipping! Juno!" Kouhei, the larger of the two yelled back over the howling that now pervaded the darkness.

"Just a little longer… Come on! Hang on!" Juno shouted back, clinging as tightly to his partner's hand as he possibly could; but even he was beginning to feel the strain of the storm.

"N-n-no! I can't hold on!" Kouhei's hand slipped away from Juno's as he said this; and he immediately plummeted falling from within the darkness.

"Kouhei! Come Back!" Juno shouted, but much to his dismay, his lifelong friend was gone.

Kouhei fell into the swift and raging waters of the ocean below. The storm continued to rage on, forcing Kouhei in all different directions… Eventually however as the storm died down Kouhei ended up on a beach… But what once was Kouhei has been dramatically and drastically changed.


	2. Chapter 1: A Beginning

Chapter One:

A Beginning

"Hmm…" A short female Eevee was pacing quickly back and forth outside a large tent that had an uncanny resemblance to the Pokémon, Wigglytuff. Considering how late at night it was, the torches outside the tent had been lit, for lighting to see; however instead they cast upon he already odd tent, a sinister amber glow. To the Eevee in question, this made the experience all the more difficult to deal with.

Suddenly she stopped pacing about and looked directly at the tent.

"No. I refuse to be paralyzed by this any longer! This is it! I have to steel my courage today…" She said sternly, a look of determination on her face.

With that she took a step ahead but not without being completely taken aback.

Upon stepping on the wooden grate in front of the tent, a shrill - almost squeaky – voice began to shout from below:

"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected! Who's footprint? Who's Footprint?! THE FOOT PRINT IS EEVEE'S! I REPEAT THE FOOTPRINT IS EEVEE'S!"

Scared, like usual she backed off.

"That was too shocking! I guess that I can't. I can't work up the courage to go in after all. I told myself this was the day but I just can't. I thought maybe, that holding onto my personal treasure would inspire me. I can't do anything right. I'm just too much of a coward. This is so discouraging."

The Eevee, who was incredibly disheartened, decided it best to give up and leave. She was ashamed of herself again and needed time to think. As usual, she walked to the beach, which was, even at the worst of times, a generally peaceful place. Especially at sunset, when the Krabby on the beach blow their bubbles into the open sea air, the sun reflecting off of each and every single bubble creating a rainbow of colours floating across the sky.

"As usual, the sunset is beautiful. When the weather is good the Krabby come out at sundown to blow bubbles. All of those bubbles, catching the suns light off of the waves; it's always beautiful."

She gazed out at the sunlit waters, their soft reflective surface filled her soul with a melancholy sort of peace, perhaps from the memories she had of being a child here.

"This is where I always come when I'm feeling sorry for myself. But it makes me feel good to be here, like always before in the past. Coming here is uplifting, it cheers me up. So many happy days here…"

She soon heard a moaning sound coming from the west end of the beach.

"Hey! What was that? What's going on over there?"

After looking a short while she noticed someone collapsed on the beach.

"What happened!? Are you okay?"

The once who had been lying unconscious struggled to his feet and looked around, saying nothing save for a painful moan.

"You're awake! That's a relief!" The Eevee said with joy "You weren't moving at all I was seriously worried! Do you remember how you ended up unconscious out here?"

The Pikachu looked back at the Eevee with a nervous look on his face.

"Well, never mind that, you can always tell me later. By the way, my name is Miu, not that I have any actual feathers. Glad to meet you! Oh, and who are you? I've never seen you around here before, actually it's quite uncommon to see any Pikachu around here at all. It's a bit rude of me to not ask your name after all, so what is it?"

The Pikachu looked at her, now serious and intent on understanding what's going on.

"Wait, wait, and wait! Slow down Miu! What do you mean it's uncommon to see Pikachu around here? I see no Pikachu anywhere."

Miu was quite confused at this statement.

"You're joking right? Don't you even know what you are? You must have really hit your head hard!"

Now the Pikachu began to get angry,

"I know fine well what I am! I'm a human!"

That said Miu froze as if an Articuno had used a powerful Ice Beam upon her. She shivered, unable to come up with any sort of reply.

"What?! You say you're a Human?!" She shouted, the only statement she could think of.

"You look like a totally normal Pikachu to me."

He looked around his body, and sure enough, he was indeed a Pikachu.

"You're a little odd. Are you sure you're not just playing some sort of trick on me?" Miu said with dismay and confusion.

"I swear the truth! I have no reason to lie. At least, I don't think I have a reason to lie."

Miu seemed to understand that something was wrong here, but continued anyway.

"Alright then, what's your name?"

He stopped to ponder about it,

"My name? My name is… Kouhei."

Miu was happy to find the name of this new Pokémon, it wasn't often she got to make friends.

"Okay, well, you don't seem to be a bad Pokémon at least. Sorry I doubted you, it's just that more and more, bad Pokémon have been showing up lately you see. A lot of them have become really aggressive, and things have grown somewhat lawless."

Just then a Zubat and a Koffing rushed in, and crashed into Miu knocking away a small stone tablet.

"Well I do beg your pardon!" The Koffing said gruffly to Miu.

She looked at them both with an angry glare, slightly nervous.

"Hey! Why'd you do that!?"

"Can't figure it out huh? We wanted to mess with you! Can't face us though can you?"

With that the Zubat grabbed the stone tablet and bolted off, Koffing close behind.

Koffing stopped behind the two of them, Miu and Kouhei both,

"Not gonna make a single move to get that back? What's the matter? Too scared? I didn't expect that you'd be such a big coward! See you later losers!"

"I don't know what to do…" Miu said as she turned to Kouhei, "That's my personal treasure! It means everything to me. If I lose that… I don't really have anything else left."

"No time to waste then! Let's get it back from those jerks." Kouhei exclaimed.

Kouhei walked off in the direction they went,

"Come on!"

Miu quickly followed Kouhei, she was startled at how willing he was to get going, how willing he was to help her. Naturally curious, she couldn't help but want to inquire. She figured she'd have a chance to learn more after this was over, so she followed him without worry.

The beach had a small cave nearby, which the two thieves ran into to get away from Miu and Kouhei. As was now very common in this world, the cave in question was one of the many treacherous "Mystery Dungeons" that change their layout every time they are entered. In fact, these Mystery Dungeons have been a common part of this world for many centuries now, and quite possibly, this world would probably be very boring without them. After all, with great danger, comes great adventure, and soon too comes the treasure usually associated with such harrowing travels.

Walking into the cave Kouhei immediately noticed that the entire area was swarming with Pokémon all living in a somewhat large, underground network of tunnels. He paid little mind of this and carried on. Miu on the other hand was quite intimidated by the large amount of Pokémon in the cave. As she had so accurately stated before, the aggressive natures within some Pokémon have become far more prevalent and as such crimes are occurring far more often. For someone who was as shy and meek as she, this trip was a difficult and daunting task. Considering that any number of these Pokémon could be criminals she didn't know what to do except try hard not to think about all the nasty stories she'd heard about unsuspecting travelers and their quick and unfortunate demises.

"Hurry on then!" Kouhei called out to Miu, "I can see the end of the cave it's just up ahead."

Sure enough Miu and Kouhei had reached the end of the Mystery Dungeon without ever even stopping, or for that Matter, Miu noticing that they had even travelled that far. The two had quickly caught up with the would be thieves.

"Alright, now what you numbskull?! It's a dead end!" the Zubat shouted at Koffing.

Miu stopped the conversation right away, however. With the thieves cornered, she had her chance to talk things through.

"Hey!" Miu shouted, promptly causing the thieves to turn towards her. 

"Well, well, if it isn't our old friend, the big chicken!" Koffing remarked.

"Give me back what you took from me! That's my personal treasure! It means everything to me!"

"Treasure? So that thing really is worth something then huh? It could be worth more than I hoped for I'd say. We ought to try selling it. Who knows? It might fetch a high price. Ah yes, all the more reason to never give it back! So, if you really want it back that badly; come and get it!" Koffing chuckled as he stared down Miu.

"Alright then! Miu, let's get that item back!"

Kouhei ran forward and leapt into the air landing a quick and hard punch right into Zubat's face. Much to everyone else's surprise Kouhei's strike was strong enough to knock Zubat out in one shot.

"Miu! Come on! I know you can do it! Beat him down!"

Her newfound friend's words of encouragement gave Miu the strength to stand against Koffing. She ran forward and leapt into the air, using a tackle attack to hit Koffing back.

However, perhaps she wasn't strong enough, or maybe it was that Koffing was stronger, but the attack wasn't enough. With that Koffing began to emit a foul gas that threatened to poison both Miu and Kouhei.

Miu didn't give up her resolve though, and tried again, this time knocking Koffing down, rendering unable to fight back any more.

"Blast! How could we have been beaten by the likes of you? Bah. Here you go, take it then!" Koffing shouted as he threw the stone back to Miu, "Don't think you're so awesome though! Your victory today was just a fluke!"

With that the thieves hightailed it out of there as fast as they could. Naturally, Miu picked up the stone and put it back where it belonged. As part of a pendant, she wore it around her neck.

"My relic fragment! Am I ever glad! I actually did manage to get it back. It's only because you agreed to help me out though Kouhei. Thank you so much Kouhei!

You see, they stole my relic fragment, well; at least that's what I call it. As you know it's my precious treasure. I've always liked legends and lore; I've never really had any friends so I took up a hobby studying old things. I always get excited when I hear any tales from the past. Oh how I dream of those legends! Hidden groves full of treasure, and strange relics of the past, uncharted territories veiled in shadow, and new lands; just waiting to be discovered. Such places must be filled with unimaginable gold and treasure! And the History! Wouldn't it be amazing to make all sorts of historic discoveries? It's what I always dream of, to be a great explorer one day. So one day, I came across this relic fragment. I admit, it does look like junk at first glance, but the pattern inscribed upon it has to mean something right? It must be the key to those legendary places. Some place where a hoard of treasure waits for me to find it. At least, that's what I feel. But you, what about your motives?"

"I have none." Kouhei said, quite plainly, "I don't remember enough to have anything of the sort. Actually, save for my name, and a few very thin memories of being a human; I have no idea of what life was like before I wound up here on this beach."

Miu looked disheartened at such a prospect, to lose everything that you had certainly would be hard to live with. I would be like starting a whole new life. That's when a grand Idea sparked in her head.

"I want to join an exploration team! This fragment has to fit into something somewhere! I want to solve the mystery of where that is. So earlier I tried joining an exploration team as an apprentice. But I chickened out, too scared to face the trials and tribulations on my own." Miu had a new look of determination on her face as she looked at Kouhei, "Would you, please join an exploration team with me? I'm convinced that we could make a great team. And, who knows? Maybe we can unravel your mystery too! Maybe, we can find out what your life used to be like! So, will you? Please?"

"No contest for this choice. I'll have to say yes. The prospect of adventure does seem appealing after all."

"Yes!? Really!? Thank you so much! I'm sure we can make this work, a team that nothing can stop! We need to head over to Wigglytuff's guild first though, and sign up as apprentices. That's where we need to train if we want to become a first rate exploration team. I'm sure it'll be tough, but let's give it our best shot!"


	3. Chapter 2: The Guild Master

Chapter 2:

The Guild Master

Kouhei and Miu walked from the beach to the large tent on the hill. From a large distance, it wasn't hard to tell that this was the home of the famous Explorer, Wigglytuff. Though it was true that no guild within a three hundred mile radius was as famous or as powerful, the picture painted of this famous explorer was a scary one indeed.

Miu wasn't sure what scared her the most; the stories of Wigglytuff being a complete mental case, or the stories of Wigglytuff's sheer destructive power. Perhaps the most shocking of those stories involving this particular guild master is the tale of how he became an explorer, and that he did so with a wanted criminal as his teacher. The mere thought of learning from someone who could turn on you at any second sent shivers up and down her body.

Standing in front of the tent, which had an uncanny resemblance to its guild master, it was only moments before both Kouhei and Miu became painfully aware of the large Iron Gate that barrefd their way.

"So, this is Wigglytuff's guild?" Kouhei questioned in a sarcastic tone, "I never would have guessed.

Miu answered as if his statement had been serious, "Yes, it is a bit odd that it would be a giant Wigglytuff tent. Regardless, we need to register with the guild master if we want to become a licensed exploration team. Then, we have to train really hard if we want to get anywhere." She looked at the large Wigglytuff tent, and was filled with a feeling of foreboding. "Isn't there something just a little odd about this place?"

Kouhei thought about it for a short while, then stated simply, "Nope; not that I can see."

Miu then walked up to the Gate, standing on the wooden grate as she had done before. Once again, as it had happened so shortly ago, the shrill voice shouted up out through the grate.

"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected! Who's footprint? Who's Footprint?! THE FOOT PRINT IS EEVEE'S! I REPEAT THE FOOTPRINT IS EEVEE'S!"

Although this frightened Miu, she stood still. Her new strength stemmed from her desire to be courageous like her new friend. Though he didn't know it, Kouhei already had a profound effect on Miu, allowing her to put her trust in someone sowed the seeds of courage within the young Eevee, allowing her to do things she never could have dreamed of doing before.

After a short time, the voice called up again, exclaiming, "You may enter! However, someone is with you, so get that stranger to stand up there!"

"I think they mean you Kouhei." Miu said as she stepped off the grate, relieved that it was indeed finally over.

It was simple, Kouhei stood on the Grate as Miu had done before, and sure enough the shrill voice began again.

"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected! Who's footprint? Who's Footprint?! The footprint is…" it stopped if only for a moment, then another voice, a voice which was deep and commanding, could be heard calling out, yelling at the shrill voiced individual.

"What's the matter?! Sentry! Sentry? What is wrong sentry Diglett?"

"I'm not so sure about this footprint Loudred. It seems to be Pikachu." Diglett, the shrill one replied, however this was quickly spoken against by Loudred, the deeper voiced individual.

"It seems to be? That's not a good enough answer!"

Most who lived here knew that this region was not known to be home to any Pikachu. In fact seeing them at all was very uncommon in most places. Most know that Diglett was completely excusable; it's a difficult call to make, when a Pokémon is so rare. Though this Diglett's job _is_ to check the footprints of visiting Pokémon it's not easy to know every footprint all the time.

After much more arguing, the yelling suddenly stopped and everything went deathly silent.

"Sorry to have made you wait so long. Well it's true that you don't see any Pikachu in these parts, but you don't seem to be a bad Pokémon. That's good enough for us, so you can enter!"

And with that, the large Iron Gate that had been blocking the way was lowered and the doorway opened.

Miu turned to Kouhei,

"I'm so nervous and jittery! But I'm glad were finally allowed in. My heart is pounding though."

The two walked in to see a large hole with a ladder which they of course promptly clamoured down. Surprisingly, the place that awaited them inside was a large common area, akin to the lobby of any organization. Of course the entire room was covered in Pokémon, all over the place. Miu looked around the room, and couldn't help but comment on it.

"So many Pokémon! I wonder if their all part of an exploration team? Maybe we could-"

Miu was promptly cut off by another voice calling out, "Excuse me!" A simple phrase, yes; but incredibly effective at gaining attention towards oneself.

A Chatot entered the room, his feathers were very well kept, his plumage was incredibly vibrant, and he had a look of importance to him. Sure, he wasn't the guild master, but as Kouhei quickly pointed out, he looked quite a bit like he could be. Miu of course reminded him, that the guild was owned by a Wigglytuff.

As the Chatot spoke, there was a slight lyrical nature to his voice. It was like he sung every thing he had to say. As humorous as it was, Kouhei tried his best not to laugh at it.

"Ah, you two must be the ones who were just at the door. I'm Chatot! I'm the Pokémon in the know in these parts. Of course, I am Guild master Wigglytuff's Right-Hand Pokémon. Now shoo. Leave the premises! We have no time for salespeople or silly surveys. Off you go, if you please."

If the fact that Chatot didn't give them much of a name, more so the species instead, didn't aggravate Kouhei, Chatot telling them to leave did.

"Hey buddy! We aren't some two bit basic lowlifes!" Kouhei said shaking his fist, "Me and my friend here want to form an exploration team!"

"That's right; we came because we want to start an exploration team!" Miu chimed in.

The Chatot was slightly caught off guard by this, and stopped. The cheery song that accompanied his speech before had faded and become a worried and raspy mumbling.

"An, exploration team you say? It's rare to see kids like you want to apprentice at _this_ guild. Especially given how difficult our training program actually is. Surely the steady stream of Pokémon that run away from our training proves how true that is."

Miu looked at Chatot, slightly confused.

"Is the training regimen really that severe?" She said, a bit of fear in her voice.

Once again Chatot changed, now he was shrill and loud, nearly shrieking at the two of them. Kouhei muttered to Miu under his breath about how Chatot might actually be bipolar, Miu giggled a bit.

"No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no! It's not hard in the slightest! Our training program for exploration teams is as easy as can be! It's all very simple really! Yes, yes! I just wish you had told me this before! Indeed, you should have told me up front that you wanted to be an exploration team! Yes, yes! Alright, let's get you signed up then!"

"His attitude does seem to change a lot doesn't it?" Miu whispered to Kouhei, he nodded in return.

Chatot motioned for them to follow him, and led them down another hole, this time to an even larger area.

"This is the guild's second underground floor, and this is where most of the apprentices live and work. Team registration is this way, follow me inside please." Chatot said as they walked through the room to a large wooden door.

Miu immediately noticed the window to the outside, and stated something quite obvious.

"Wow! Were two floors underground but we can still see outside! Cool!"

Of course, Chatot rained on that parade.

"Oh, hush now! The guild is built into the side of a cliff; it's only natural that you would be able to see outside. On another note however, we are standing outside the Guild master's chamber. On no account, and I repeat, on no account shall you be discourteous to our Guild master."

He turned to the door and opened it, leading the two inside.

Inside of course was a Wigglytuff, just as it had been expected. He was staring at the wall, motionless.

"Guild master! I present to you two Pokémon who wish to join our guild as apprentices!"

With that, the Wigglytuff did a heel-face turn.

"Hiya!" He exclaimed, "I'm Wilbur! I'm the guild's Guild master! You want to form an exploration team? Then, let's go for it! First we register your team name! So tell me then, what's your team's name?"

"Our team name?" Miu choked out, "I'm not really…"

"It's Team Asayake!" Kouhei said, jumping in.

Wigglytuff was fine with that and everything moved on.

"Alright then. Everything is all settled! I'll register your team, as Team Asayake! Registered? All registered! YOOM-TAH! And that's it! Now you're an official Exploration team! I present you with this commemoration!" With that, Wigglytuff set down an exploration team kit.

"It's what every exploration team needs! Now quickly, open it up!"

Kouhei walked over and opened the lid. Inside, were two badges, a map, and a satchel for holding treasure. Both badges had a spot for a nametag to be placed and were the colour of cream. They served a dual purpose, the first of which was a simple one, Identification. Colour denoting Team Rank, and Nametags to state the Team Name and Leaders. However, the second of these uses, was in the fact that these badges were made special, and had the power to warp weak, or fainted Pokémon out of Mystery Dungeons. The map in question, was of the entire continent, but some of the places were covered up.

As it was explained, the map was special, and would reveal new areas as they were explored, hence the name, Wonder Map. Finally there was the treasure bag. As it was aptly named, the bag was a small pouch used for collecting treasure found inside the dungeons; that way, explorers could keep what they found. To top it off, this bag was the smallest size it could be, of course there were similar bags that came in different sizes, and they would be rewarded for doing well or moving up in explorer rank. As a beginners gift, inside said treasure bag was a Joy ribbon, an Amber bow.

"Those two Items are special. I'm sure they will help you on your adventures though. Remember, as apprentices you must work hard! So do your best, and train!"

Miu thanked Wilbur Wigglytuff wholeheartedly. Perhaps she forgot the rumours about him, and instead chose to believe what she was seeing instead.

After that, Chatot led them away from the Guild master, down a long hallway.

"This is your room! You will sleep here as long as you are apprentices at this guild. In other words, you will be living here with us now. Things will start getting busy for you tomorrow, so rise early and start living up to our code. Don't stay up late, get to sleep early tonight. That is all."

With that, Chatot left them alone in their new room. It had two beds, and both of them were quite comfortable. The room was quite spacious, and had lots of room for Team Asayake to keep their things. All in all, Kouhei seemed quite happy about all this, Miu even more so, you could even go so far as to stay she was ecstatic.

In the middle of the night, Miu sleepily spoke to Kouhei,

"My heart's been racing all day, over every little thing. But I'm glad that I finally made myself come here. I thought Guild master Wigglytuff would be scary, but he seems really friendly actually. Were gonna experience all sorts of new things, starting tomorrow, but I'm not very scared. In fact, I'm super excited for all of the adventures, were going to have! So, let's give it our all tomorrow. Okay Kouhei?"

He nodded, and drifted off to sleep, Miu follow shortly after. Everything was peaceful and quiet in the still of the night.


	4. Chapter 3: Mission, Floor B7

Chapter 3:

Mission, Floor B7F

The sleep seemed short, and morning came fast. However, the wake up call could have been a bit nicer. Loudred burst into the room shouting as loud as he could, which of course was incredibly loud. It was loud enough in fact, that everyone else in the guild could hear it.

"Hey! Wake up! Rise and shine! Come on! Why are you still asleep?! Wake up! Come on! Snap out of it! I'm Larry and I'm a fellow apprentice! If you're late for the morning briefing, you'll be sorry! I mean it! So move it."

If it had been any louder, it's assumable that Kouhei and Miu's eardrums would burst. In fact, the speech had already induced an incredibly painful ringing in Kouhei's sensitive ears. Miu was no better off.

"Guild master Wigglytuff has got a big temper! If you make him lose it, that would be one scary scene! I've got Goosebumps just thinking about it! So, I'm not about to get in trouble because you rookies got up late. So get in Gear!"

Miu was trembling in pain and fear. Larry Loudred had shown to her one of the first reasons why said training regimen was so hard. Larry, who has been here for years and attempted on several occasions to graduate from the guild, was a total jerk at the best of times. Sure, he meant well, but is methods of course could use a little work.

Kouhei helped Miu up, holding her quivering body tightly. For him, the painful ringing had mostly subsided. At this point he wasn't sure if she was still hearing it, or was just afraid.

"It's alright, don't worry. Just calm down, okay Miu? Everything will be okay. Don't worry, because you've got me to protect you from anything bad that happens, okay?"

He led Miu down the hallway to where the others were together, she slowly calmed down on the way there.

"You're late rookies!" Larry screamed.

He would have continued if it weren't for Chatot pointing out how ridiculously loud Larry's voice actually was. This scolding of course, was enough to promptly seal his lips for a while.

"Now that everyone is officially present, we will conduct or morning address!"

On saying that, the guild master entered the room. The words Chatot said would be immediately followed by the other guild members repeating it back in unison. Chatot was obviously running the show, because of this, Guild master Wigglytuff's presence seemed slightly pointless. This coupled with the fact that the guild master still being asleep, while wandering around, and following orders, made him seem very puppet like. Actually, this was a feat of prowess in and of itself. How many people can actually carry on doing their activities without a hitch while they're asleep? None of this whole creepy affair was helped at all by the fact that the guild master's eyes were as open as plates. Sleeping like that, with your eyes open, is a ridiculous thing to do indeed. Aside from all of this, the morning cheers were simple and to the point. In fact, most of them were good to live by for most anybody: Don't shirk work, run away and pay, smiles go for miles.

As soon as the morning address was over, Chatot called for Team Asayake to come forth, as he had a job for them. He led them upstairs to a large bulletin board on the left wall. It was absolutely covered in Bulletins. As he explained, this was the job bulletin board. Pokémon from various regions posted their job requests here. Chatot looked it over then stopped immediately, turning to the team.

"I'm sure you're aware of the fact that bad Pokémon are cropping up in great numbers. You know this right?"

"Yes, because the flow of time is getting messed up, it's wreaking havoc on the world. That's why Pokémon are turning bad." Miu softly replied.

"The flow of time is getting messed up? Time? As in, hours and minutes? Do you mean that something is wrong with the time here? And that is what is making Pokémon bad?" Kouhei asked Miu. She quickly explained that time itself, everywhere, was changing.

"Precisely, time's corruption has caused an outbreak of crime, and bad Pokémon. Perhaps, because of that, we have noticed an increase in the number of jobs that need to be done. In addition, it is currently unknown if this is because of time's influence, but there also has been a mass outbreak of mystery dungeons. Far more have been popping up now, than ever before in the past…"

He seemed worried on that last note, but quickly moved on. The team was just beginning; Chatot saw fit to give them an easy mission. He handed them one of the bulletins off the board, and Miu read it aloud.

"Hello! My name is Sputnik, I'm a Spoink. An outlaw has run off with my most prized possession. My precious pearl! That pearl is the source of my psychic powers, and I can't do much anything without it. It means very much to me, and I just can't seem to settle down if that pearl isn't in its proper place atop my head. I've heard that my pearl has been sighted though. It's said to be on a rocky bluff; however the mystery dungeon in question is reported to be extremely unsafe. I could never go somewhere so frightening! Friendly readers, would you be so kind as to go to the bluff and pick it up for me?"

Kouhei was rather happy with the prospect of this mission, and urged for Miu to take it. It didn't take much for Kouhei to convince her of course, and she quickly took the mission.

* * *

Miu and Kouhei stood outside the Dungeon, called the Drenched Bluff. According to the mission details, the pearl should be on basement floor 7. As it sounded quite dangerous from the bulletin, Miu advised to take caution while pushing forward through the Dungeon. It was now that Miu began wearing the Joy Ribbon, and in turn, Kouhei took this time to start wearing the treasure bag.

The cave-like dungeon was true to its name. Filled with water and sharp craggy rocks, the entire place is wet. Indeed, it was literally drenched. Visibly much larger than the previous mystery dungeon that was entered; Team Asayake had their work cut out for them. Populated largely by Anorith and Shellos, it was favourable for the Pikachu led team.

As type matchups go, water is weak to electric. Those two Pokémon being mainly water types would of course quickly fall to an electric type such as Pikachu. Unfortunately, in this case, Kouhei had no electric moves to speak of. He did however have a mean right hook, and could probably go toe to toe with a Machamp; of course it would be difficult to deal with the height differential. In this case, his inability to shock his watery opponents served to be no real setback.

Miu and Kouhei fought their way down several floors picking up as much treasure as they could carry. Unlike usual Miu, who would be too overtly paranoid to enjoy herself, was having the time of her life. With the treasure bag full, Miu questioned how to return the pearl with no way to carry it. Of course, this was overshadowed by the low humming sound that could be heard coming from just below.

Continuing down past the fifth floor, the humming sound grew louder and louder. At first what sounded like it may have actually been running water, had turned into something far more confusing. A sound not that dissimilar to crying now pervaded the area filling Miu with an awkward feeling. Kouhei, surprised to hear such a thing in this place rushed ahead in the direction of the noise.

It led them to a large stairway, which was the way down to the seventh, and final, floor of the dungeon. Both Miu and Kouhei stood for a while before deciding what to actually do. The crying however was becoming increasingly loud, and Miu was too curious not to go on.

Following the stairs down into the seventh floor basement, Kouhei and Miu noticed a Zangoose huddled up in a corner, weeping. It was holding tightly to the pearl.

"Hey, buddy! Sorry, but we need that pearl back." Kouhei shouted out to the Zangoose.

Suddenly the cavern fell deathly silent. As the Zangoose whirled around to face Team Asayake, it became easy to see that the Zangoose in question was suffering from some sort of emotional trauma. With tears streaming from its eyes, and bloodstains all over its fur, it shrieked at Kouhei and rushed in his direction. Its razor sharp claws just barely missing Kouhei's throat, the Zangoose moved in for another attack. This one connected, and Kouhei was sent spiralling into a wall.

It laughed maniacally as Miu called out to Kouhei. He had been hurt badly, as the jagged rock wall cut his left arm. With Kouhei incapacitated, the Zangoose moved in on Miu who was trembling at the intimidating figure.

"You cannot grasp the true form of my power!" It shrieked. It was easily noticeable that this Zangoose had lost any semblance of sanity long ago. This fact, coupled with Kouhei's quick defeat, frightened Miu more than anything ever had before. However, she stood her ground; as the guild's common phrase stated, run away and pay. She tackled the Zangoose, but the effort wasn't good enough. She was simply too frightened to fight back properly, and the Zangoose threw her into the wall, next to Kouhei. She slumped over, unable to go on

Kouhei managed to get up to his feet, and took the Amber Ribbon out of the treasure bag that had now fallen open on the ground. He tied it tight to his wound and was suddenly overcome with a feeling unlike which he had never felt before. He looked to Miu, and then to the Zangoose, now emboldened and enraged.

"Nobody hurts my friends! Miu's taught me much in very little time, and put a great amount of faith in me up till now. I'm not gonna repay her by failing!" Kouhei shouted at the Zangoose, as sparks flitted across the red spots on his cheeks

Turning to Miu, he spoke softly.

"Like I said; I'll protect you. No matter what, you had no real doubts about me. You trusted me, almost right from the beginning. If you hadn't woken me up on that beach, I might have just been carried out to sea. This is thank you."

He looked at the Zangoose who looked at him with a sort of moronic stupor. Immediately Kouhei rushed towards Zangoose and landed a strong right punch into its stomach. He followed up with several jabs to the head from his left hand, each time having the static electricity flowing into Zangoose more and more. He pulled back and punched the Zangoose as hard as he could, bright bolts of electricity flying around his tightened fist. The attack was a solid thunder punch; a new technique that Kouhei had learned. As it turned out, all Kouhei needed to use his natural electrical power, was focus on his target and it seemed that his cheeks did the rest. The raw power of the punch that collided with Zangoose sent it reeling far back into the water, where the electricity continued to shock it for a short while.

Miu was fine now, and was very happy to have Kouhei by her side. She knew that he would stand by her no matter what, and this is what truly made her happy. She had a companion.

* * *

With that over, the pearl retrieved, and the dungeon successfully escaped, Team Asayake headed back to the guild, where Sputnik was waiting. Kouhei placed the pearl atop Sputnik's head and stood back.

"That pearl is perfect where it is propped up on my head. I missed it so much! I just couldn't settle down without it! I was just boinging and springing everywhere, aimlessly bouncing from place to place! Now that you've returned my pearl to me, that nightmare is over! You have my sincere thanks!"

He walked over to Kouhei and dropped a back full of items in it, then dropped 2000 Poké for the team's reward. Miu was flabbergasted at the ridiculous sum of money, as compared to the miniscule amounts of Poké that the team had found so far, 2000 was a dream amount. With that, Sputnik hobbled off, or more appropriately bounced off leaving the team alone with Chatot.

Chatot then hopped over to Kouhei and took 1800 of the Poké that Sputnik had dropped. He quickly explained that most of the money from jobs goes to the guild master, and that the team only gains ten percent of the monetary value obtained from the client. It was the guild's rule, but of course this was simply the cash needed to pay for living costs and the training. Reasonable in retrospect.

The evening meal came soon after, and quickly everyone poured into the dining room to eat. Though they didn't say anything about their fight with the Zangoose, it was easy to see that team courage had worked up quite an appetite, as they had devoured everything on their plates within minutes. As soon as the meal was finished everyone said goodnight, and went off to bed.


End file.
